


The Red-Eyed Monster

by Liliansquill



Category: Victoria (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-10-04 09:39:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10273943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liliansquill/pseuds/Liliansquill
Summary: One night when Victoria is woken by a bad dream, her and Albert talk about their childhoods.





	

**Author's Note:**

> No plot, just fluff. Mostly dialogue. Also, I believe this might be the silliest fic I've ever written. So why not publish it, right?

_It was twilight- not completely dark yet, but the cloudy sky looking as ominous as if her worst fears were to come true at any moment._

_She came to the understanding that she was standing on a cliff, quite close to the edge. For a second she thought she heard the sound of waves but the next moment it was complete silence again._

_It didn’t seem to be windy but for some reason she was so cold. Could have been because she was standing there with only her nightgown on, she thought. But then it didn’t appear to be winter, she could feel the grass under her bare feet, it shouldn’t be that freezing._

_The icy feeling seemed to cut into her very core, it was like she became so united with it she couldn’t sense her own body anymore._

_She swayed and fell towards the edge of the cliff._

Victoria flinched and woke up. Her eyes were wide open now but it took her a moment to catch up with reality – she wasn’t standing on a scary cliff, she was safely in her own bed.

She sat up and breathed heavily, realising that while the dream might’ve not been real, the feeling of cold very much was. 

“Victoria?” It was Albert who had been woken up by her sudden awakening. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you, love,” she mumbled. 

“Bad dream?” Albert’s voice was calm – only the sound of it was so soothing to Victoria that she already felt less overwhelmed. 

“Yes,” she whispered. 

Albert’s hand came to caress her arm but his fingers jumped away from her in a second. 

“My darling, your arm is like ice.” 

Victoria lay back down and answered: “I know. I’m so cold for some reason.” She felt a shiver run through her body, acknowledging her own words. 

“Well, it’s no wonder,” Albert said. “You seem to have made sure to stay as far away as possible from the blanket.” 

They both glanced down on the bed. Victoria’s side of the blanket was bunched up next to Albert’s side leaving none of it to cover her. 

Victoria chuckled at the sight. 

“Let’s warm you up, little ice queen.” Albert’s playful voice made Victoria smile. 

He pulled her close to himself and covered her with the blanket. Victoria stretched her arms around Albert, her head resting on his chest. 

Albert flinched a little when the tip of her nose touched the bare skin of his chest on the area that was not covered by his nightshirt. 

“Glad to see I have such an effect on you,” she snickered. 

She could see Albert raise his brows in amusement. He hugged her tightly, wishing to transmit the heat from his body to hers as quickly as possible. 

Victoria stretched herself in a delight to meet his warmth. It was almost as if she could physically feel little bundles of happiness run across her body. Yes, she was still cold but she relished the solidness of his frame against her, the way he intertwined his legs with hers and let his hands move up and down on her arms. How could anyone ever say Albert was cold, she thought and smiled to herself, when he was quite clearly the warmest person she had ever known. 

“I like this,” she whispered. 

“Good,” Albert said and kissed her nose that was a bit warmer now. “Is it effective too? Are you not so cold anymore?” 

“I’m warming up by the second,” she said, positioning herself more comfortably in his arms. 

“Then I’ve done my job well.” 

“Your job?” she raised her head and looked at him. 

“It is a job of a husband to warm up his dear wife, wouldn’t you agree?” The corners of his mouth were twitching a little. 

“You’re right. And a very important job I might add.” Victoria tried to look very serious saying it but couldn’t help smiling in the end. She lifted herself slightly upwards to plant a little kiss on his lips. To her surprise Albert’s hand came to hold her face still, making the kiss longer and deeper than her initial plan.

Having settled her back in his arms, Albert asked: “Do you want to tell me about this bad dream?” 

“It was nothing really,” Victoria mumbled, shaking her head. “I was alone in this place unknown to me…some cliff I believe. And it was the coldest place ever. At some point my legs began to shake so heavily that I fell off the cliff. Well, I woke up just before I did but…” 

The dream didn’t seem scary at all anymore, now that she was talking about it lying safely in Albert’s arms. 

“Hmm,” Albert murmured.

They lay silently for a moment, then Victoria said: “You know, when I was a little girl, mama used to tell me that bad dreams were a punishment for being naughty.” 

“What?” Albert’s brows raised in surprise. “That sounds...” He left the sentence unfinished but the look on his face hinted the word he would’ve wanted to use was “awful” or “dreadful”. 

“So every time I had a nightmare I had to think about why this punishment was sent to me.” 

For a moment she felt like that little girl from Kensington again, scared and alone. Fortunately, Albert’s arms around her made it possible to shake that feeling in a second. 

She looked at Albert whose face was serious, almost sad. He looked right into her eyes when he started: “For a period after my mother left I was too scared to even sleep alone. So most nights I would crawl into Ernst’s bed and sleep there.” 

“Did it help?” Victoria’s big eyes were full of sympathy. 

“I think it did. Just to know that he would be there for me and I would not be alone was enough to make it better.” 

“You were lucky to have him.” 

Victoria wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and put her cheek against his. She always felt an itch in her heart when Albert trusted her with something about his childhood. She knew it hadn’t been entirely unhappy but many of his descriptions were so gloomy and melancholic she just wanted to hug him until everything that had ever hurt him fell away. 

He responded her hug wholeheartedly. Victoria felt it was an appreciation of her love from his side. 

He lay on his back then and pulled her near him so her head would rest on his chest. Much to Victoria’s surprise he continued talking about his childhood. 

“It was funny too. You know, at some point later on I used to think there was a monster living under my bed and if I fell asleep it would come and get me. It’s funny to think about it now but back then I took it so seriously.” 

“So what did you do?” Victoria asked, her fingers drawing circles on his flat belly. 

“I didn’t do anything. But Ernst…Ernst told me that if we draw this monster and then dig the drawing into the ground then the monster would be trapped in the picture and in the ground and couldn’t come to scare me anymore.” 

Victoria smiled. “That’s a very smart idea actually.” 

“I know,” Albert agreed. “Sometimes I wonder where he came up with such things, being only so little older than me.” 

Victoria looked at him, her eyes tender. “When you want to make someone you love feel better, you do whatever you can I think.” 

“Yes, that’s right.” 

“So did you draw that monster then?” 

“We did. It turned out to be quite a creepy picture. It was a monster with big horns and penetrating red eyes and…ah…” He stopped for a moment, looking for the right word. “Ah…tentacles, I think is the word. You know, like big claws it can use to catch you.” 

Victoria smiled at him. Describing something, Albert often turned into this excited little boy, and she found it most endearing. 

“So we dug it into the ground under this big oak tree near the north corner of the garden. Ernst said it definitely has to be buried under an oak, because if the monster would try to escape then only an oak tree has roots strong enough to stop it.” 

“That was so sweet of him,” Victoria said, caressing Albert’s hair. “Making sure you had absolutely no reason to fear that awful monster ever again.” 

“It was very nice.” Albert gazed at the ceiling. Victoria could see the memory was very vivid for him, like he was still this little boy who trusts his big brother without a doubt. 

“Albert?” Her voice was curious.

Albert looked at her. “Mm.”

“How did you know the monster was under your bed? Did it make a noise or do something to be noticed?” 

This might have started as a story about Albert’s childhood but was turning into a funny little horror story for Victoria. One that wouldn’t actually scare you but rather make you laugh. 

Albert seemed to get her idea and fell, once again, into the explaining mode he loved so much: “Well, mostly I think its problem was the fact that it was too big and therefore had difficulties fitting under the bed. So when it tried to adjust itself, or move, it would make the bed squeak.” 

“Squeak?” Victoria’s eyes were suddenly very big and filled with mock-horror. “Oh no, Albert. I think this bed, our bed, squeaks too sometimes.” 

“It does? Have you heard it? Like when?” Albert tried to keep a straight face. 

“You know, sometimes when we…” She raised her brows suggestively and continued, whispering: “Then the bed squeaks. I think the monster might believe that when we’re… occupied with each other we won’t hear it move itself.” 

Albert couldn’t hold back a chuckle now. Seeing him laugh made Victoria laugh too. 

“Albert, could you maybe check if it’s there… so we can get rid of it if we have to.” 

“Why are you whispering?” There was still a wide smile on Albert’s face. 

“So it won’t hear us,” Victoria reported, like this was the most obvious thing that he should’ve understood even without her explanation. “So…will you check? Because I think it might be another job for a husband.”

“Really?” Albert grinned. “How can I refuse then?” 

He got out of bed and knelt in front of his side of it, bending his head down to look under the bed. Having crawled back under covers, he noted: “It’s not there. I think it has gone somewhere else.” 

“Are you sure?” Victoria tried to look worried but failed. “You didn’t even look that closely, and it’s dark too.” 

“It doesn’t matter,” Albert said, very sure of himself. “Monsters, my love, have big red eyes, as I said before. And,” he paused for a moment, “the eyes glow in the dark. So it’s impossible not to notice them.” 

“I see. Wait…” Suddenly there was a look of realisation on Victoria’s face. “Red glowing eyes, you said…” 

“Mhmm, exactly,” Albert mumbled.

“I know where it’s gone!” Victoria was whispering again very excitedly. “It’s under mama’s bed! I was in her room just the other day and I swear I saw two red eyes beaming at me from under her bed. Only then I didn’t know it was the monster, I thought it was a pair of her ruby earrings. You know, she sometimes stores her things in the most curious places.” 

She burst into laughter by the end of her revelation, taking Albert with her. 

“Don’t you think we should help her then?” Albert managed to ask between chuckles. 

“No, I don’t think we need to. If anyone knows how to deal with monsters, or even befriend them, it’s my mother. I think she’s quite capable by herself.” A smirk appeared on Victoria’s face with those words. 

Albert raised his brows at this answer but didn’t say anything. He only pinned his playful wife to the bed and gave her a kiss, one he meant far more seriously than their previous conversation.


End file.
